Introducing Mycarematters…

It’s already been an exciting year for Care Charts UK, seeing the adoption of our Remember-I’m-Me Care Charts by hundreds more care homes and hospitals, and receiving lots of positive feedback about the beneficial impact achieved by these simple, cost-effective tools.

We’ve also made a start on a range of products to help with the care of people living in their own home (we’re still looking for input on this from carers, both paid and unpaid, and those being cared for: please complete our homecare survey if you haven’t already done so.)

But there’s more to be done. I’ve been conscious for a while, now that we are working with increasing numbers of hospitals, of the difficulties faced by staff in collecting the information to go on a Care Chart. A number of hours, even days, might pass before nursing staff can build up a picture of the issues that matter to a person if they are unable to communicate these things for themselves. Even in that short time a person living with dementia might suffer trauma and discomfort purely because the information isn’t reliably available which would enable staff to allay concerns, meet a person’s dietary needs or understand what might look like inexplicable behaviour.

There is increased understanding of the value in treating the whole person to improve overall outcomes, and the power of Care Charts lies in providing quick, easy and reliable access to a person’s needs and preferences to assist in that aim. However, research suggests that nursing staff spend an average of 100 minutes per patient trying to collect the information that will help them provide that person-centred care.

So a few months ago I had one of those exciting lightbulb moments, with an idea that just seems so obvious I can’t believe it’s not already out there (not unlike my experience when I developed the first Care Chart for my husband Geoff). If we could provide a secure place online for people to upload their non-medical information, it could be made immediately available to all healthcare staff, cutting that 100 minutes by more than 90% and immediately improving the potential for better outcomes for both staff and patients.

In that moment Mycarematters was born, and in true ‘JFDI’ style (so often referred to by my friend Gill Phillips of @WhoseShoes’ fame), we’re about to start building the platform.

I want to reiterate the point that this is not about medical notes; there are others working on ambitious projects to digitise those, and they face many challenges. Mycaredata will focus instead on details like preferred foods and drinks, what assistance is required for a person’s mobility, why a particular routine is important and any other issues that matter to a person: reassurance for example that their pet is being cared for whilst they are in hospital, or that they need assistance to eat.

Uploading the information will be simple and straightforward, guided by a series of prompts, and it will be a quick and easy process for hospital staff to access it. We’ll be making use of the best encryption and data security software to protect the data (talktalk IT staff need not apply!) and the best news is that we’re going to try and keep it free for both individuals and hospitals.

If you would like to follow our progress you can do so at www.mycarematters.org and/or comment on any aspect of the project at info@mycarematters.org. I’m sure the end product will be quite different to what I was envisaging when I scribbled that first note to myself, but the aspiration won’t change: to improve the experience of a hospital visit for those people who struggle to communicate their needs, thereby improving their outcomes as well as those of the staff and of the NHS.